Steer clear of rain-swollen streams, rivers

Thursday

Jul 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

People often underestimate the power of water. That power increases exponentially with the kind of heavy rains and high flows we have seen this summer, so people must use extra caution to avoid senseless drownings and near-drownings like those we have seen lately.

People often underestimate the power of water. That power increases exponentially with the kind of heavy rains and high flows we have seen this summer, so people must use extra caution to avoid senseless drownings and near-drownings like those we have seen lately.The latest accident occurred Sunday when an 8-year-old boy was swept into a downed tree while tubing on the East Fork of the French Broad River near Rosman. The child was trapped under water for nearly 15 minutes before rescuers were able to free him and revive him using CPR. He was airlifted to Mission Hospitals in Asheville in critical condition.A few miles away, in Gorges State Park, rescue crews worked through early Sunday to recover and remove the body of a Greenville, S.C., man who had drowned in the Horsepasture River. The body of Jermaine Maffett, 36, was found about 100 yards below 150-foot Rainbow Falls, five days after friends saw him jump into a pool at Turtleback Falls a short distance upstream. Rescue and dive crews spent days searching for his body.Maffett’s death was the fifth in the past decade at Rainbow Falls. Several deaths have occurred when swimmers have been swept downstream from the popular swimming hole a short distance upstream at Turtleback. The normally placid pool develops strong currents that can pull people downstream and over the cataract when the river is running high, as it has been this summer.On July 9, rescuers pulled four people from the Davidson River in Pisgah National Forest. The river was raging at about eight times its normal flow that day when Transylvania County dispatchers received a 911 call about tubers and swimmers in distress near the Sycamore Flats picnic area. Among those rescued were a mother and two daughters from Arden who had become stuck on a logjam downstream of the picnic area. The woman had been in the cold water about 10 minutes and was “very hypothermic,” while her daughters were just “panicked and scared more than anything,” said John Bailey, assistant chief of the Little River Fire Department, who assisted in the rescue.The incident on the Davidson, like Sunday’s near-drowning on the East Fork, is a harsh reminder of the danger of floating on rain-swollen streams in inner tubes. Streams that are normally shallow and mild-mannered become deep and powerful. Downed trees, which might be easy to avoid at normal flows, become potential death traps when strong currents rush through their branches.Rainfall so far this year is running close to or more than 2 feet above normal. The almost 50 inches recorded at the Asheville Regional Airport is about double what fell during the same period last year. With the soils saturated and the streams full, it only takes a little rain to transform small streams into raging torrents that can quickly claim a life.Residents and visitors without special equipment and training should avoid putting themselves and rescuers at risk during this summer of seemingly endless rains and high water.